Home » Kids Activities » Book Extension Activities » Mouse Count Book Extension Activity for Kids

Mouse Count Book Extension Activity for Kids

Share it up!

Welcome back to another month of the Virtual Book Club for Kids! This month's author is Ellen Stoll Walsh, so today I'm sharing our Mouse Count Game!

Mouse Count Book Activity - Ping Pong Ball Game

My preschooler and my toddler BOTH really had fun with our super simple mouse count game- ping pong balls are just hilarious fun, that's all there is too it!

Before I get to how we did it- just a note, affiliate links are used in this post, which just means that if you buy something through that link, this website receives a tiny commission at no cost to you.

Okay, so this month's author, Ellen Stoll Walsh, has a series of super cute books that feature her adorable and clever mice characters. Here were the books chosen by the Virtual Book Club for Kids this month:

Book Selections: Mouse Paint, Mouse Count, Mouse Shapes

SEE!? Adorable. Told you. 😉
So these mice get up to all kinds of silly adventures in their books. The one we chose for our activity was Mouse Count. In the book the super cute mice are playing and have to watch out for snakes, but they get sleep and take naps. A snake comes along and catpures the mice one by one into a jar. But the snake gets greedy and the mice get clever. I won't spoil the ending but no mice are harmed in the book. 😉
We needed to come up with a super silly game to match those super silly mice! I think we did just that!
 Mouse Count Ping Pong Ball Game on Lalymom.com - Oh NOOO the snake is eating the mice!
I shared the materials and prep needed for this fun game below but be forewarned….there might be tears if one of your snakes actually decides to eat the mice….just sayin….
He recovered pretty quickly and we played again and again! My preschooler liked the pretend play and playing for speed aspects of the game, while my toddler loved the counting, filling and spilling. They both enjoy chasing the bouncing ping pong balls around!

Mouse Count Ping Pong Ball Game for Kids

Materials:

Mouse Count book to read
10 Plain white ping pong balls (we got ours at the dollar store but Amazon sells ping pong balls too)
Black permanent marker
Clear plastic jar that is large enough to fit more than the 10 ping pong balls (We have had the one we used for years, this is the closest thing I could find on Amazon)
1 other container, such as a basket, to hold the ping pong balls across the room
Blue kids socks (optional) (Ours were Hanes brand and golly I cannot find a link to them anywhere!)

Prep:
Mouse Count Ping Pong Balls on Lalymom - nFun Book Extension activity!
Use the black permanent marker to draw your very best Ellen Stoll Walsh-like mouse onto each ping pong ball, including the tails. (Mine look hilarious but the kids knew just what they were anyway)
Ways to Play:
If you are playing with the blue socks, have each child wear one on one hand. That is the snake!
Place all the ping ping balls into the basket and place the clear empty jar across the room. The kids need to use their socked hand to transport the ping pong balls to the jar. Have the kids count them as they go! When they are all there they can tip the jar over, collect them and start over again.
Optional Play Ideas:
-One player can be a mouse by wearing a white sock instead and as the other players fill up the jar, the mouse player can tip the jar over and the snake players have to catch the bouncing mice all over again.
-Relay the action by having your snakes line up, one kid brings one mouse to the jar and then heads to the back of the line, until they are all in the jar. This can be done in teams if you have enough ping pong balls!
-For just one player, see how fast he or she can get all the balls into the jar. Do it over and over to try to beat that time!
-Once your snakes tire of just plain setting the mice into the jar, why not try tossing them in? It's pretty tricky to get them into our container so take that into consideration when choosing the container.
What kind of activities would you do with these little bouncing mice?
More Ellen Stoll Walsh Book Activities
Check out the ideas from this Month's Virtual Book Club for Kids Bloggers:
Mouse Count Sensory Bin from Still Playing School
Mouse Shapes Learn to Spell Your Name Activity from Growing Book By Book
Shape Collages Inspired by Mouse Shapes by Inspiration Laboratories
Mouse Count Number Lines and Ordering by Rainy Day Mum
Mouse Shapes Puppets  from The Pleasantest Thing
Triangle Puzzle from Mama Miss
Mouse Paint Color Mixing Hearts Craft from Toddler Approved 
Free Color Book from Playdough to Plato
Mouse Count Activities with Lids  from The Educators' Spin on It

Virtual Book Club for Kids

Virtual Book Club 2014 Logo

This post is part of the Virtual Book Club for Kids which means there is a host of other awesome bloggers who shared super fun ideas based on these books too!

Catch up on all the action with the Virtual Book Club for Kids on your favorite social media networks:
You can also learn more at the Virtual Book Club for Kids website as well as Sign up for the Virtual Book Club for Kids Newsletter to receive great book activity ideas in you inbox!

If you want to check out the featured titles from next month they are:

February 12th- Featured Author: Dr Seuss

Featured Books: One Fish Two Fish, The Cat and the Hat, The Lorax

More Book Inspired Activities for Kids

Looking for more Book activity ideas? Check out these posts and my Book Activities Pinterest board!

Follow Laura @ Lalymom Kids Crafts & Activities's board Kids Books Crafts & Activities on Pinterest.

Share it up!

Similar Posts

6 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.